Course Profile: IHHS 411 – Violence across the Lifespan

Violence in families is a topic relevant to all health and human service professionals, educators, and those who may be in contact with survivors, perpetrators, and intermediaries. Because of this, UBC is offering for the first timeInterprofessional Health and Human Service (IHHS) 411: Violence across the Lifespan as a fully interprofessional learning experience. As Elaine Alpert, the course instructor, explains, IHHS 411 examines “violence across the lifespan in a manner that allows students to learn with, from, and about one another as collaboratively practicing health and human services professionals”.

IHHS 411 is the first of its kind offered by the College of Health Discipline at the University of British Columbia. The College of Health Discipline presents exciting courses focused on education and learning conditions which encourage interprofessional collaboration and communication between the students, the University, and the community. Students who take IHHS 411 will develop critical foundational knowledge of the field through interprofessional cooperative teams that serve as models for coordinated-community response to violence and abuse.

IHHS 411 is a topic focused overview of violence and abuse across a person’s life including child abuse and neglect, adult intimate partner violence, elder abuse, human trafficking, as well as rape and sexual assault. Upon completion students will be accomplished at recognizing the social and behaviour factors that contribute to violence and its resilience or recovery. Students will also attain the knowledge of how to identify local, regional, and national resources for prevention and intervention.

As distance education presents some very unique opportunities in learning environments, students of IHHS 411 have considerable flexibility in terms of when and where they engage in course interactions. The weekly activities consist of readings, multimedia videos, and personal reflections which are undertaken at the student’s pace through their interprofessional collaborative teams. Likewise, there is an extensive use of the WebCT Vista online communication tools for individual, group and class wide discussions. An exceptional addition to the course, created by Alpert, is the weekly optional live web chat in addition to an optional in person tea hour for interested students.

The development of this course was one of the objectives of Alpert’s Fulbright Fellowship which she has seen through from the ground up. “I am anticipating a deep sense of professional satisfaction in having developed and (successfully) taught this course”, notes Alpert. The focus that IHHS 411 places on interprofessional collaboration was an exciting challenge for Alpert, and this collaboration is reflected with the inclusion of co-instructor, Meghan Howe, Master of Public Health. With extensive collaboration amongst classmates and the instructor, IHHS 411 dispels the notion that distance education only involves self-directed learning. In fact, the online communication tools make it easy for classmates to connect, communicate, and collaborate.

Hello.
I’m not exactly sure how this works but I’m interested in taking this course through distance learning. Im interested in finding out entrance qualifications and tuition fees. If you could please get back to me that would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.